More playing - now with Photoshop CS2

I have been totally unmotivated (as you can tell, I’m sure) to post anything the past couple of days. Part of that is because the Christmas series was pretty tough there at the end, and I was taking a break. Part of it, certainly, is because I didn’t feel like commenting on what’s been going on in the “real world.”

BUT!!! Most of it is that I’m trying to figure out Photoshop CS2. The Beloved Husband upgraded our PShop 7 to CS2 last month, and I’m finally getting around to trying to figure it out. Of course, I never did go through the whole stuff with version 7, but I’d really like to understand the basics of this powerful program, so I can tweak my photos a little and make them better. I don’t need the more esoteric features and .raw data processing (my little Sony doesn’t take pictures in the .raw format), but often the color corrections and balancing features will come in very handy. It would also be fun to do a little cut & pasteing, and play with layering and special effects.

Our upgrade included the new Adobe Bridge, which is a pretty powerful photo management program, as well as ImageReady. I’m a little confused, because the full suite of CS2 programs wasn’t included, but... *shrug* At any rate, if anyone wants to drop me a line and tell me what ImageReady is used for, and which part of CS2 I need for web-page design (and can I use that to mess with my Tpad template?), I would appreciate it!

So, here’s some stuff I’ve been playing with:

This photo was taken by the Beloved Husband and Adored Daddy when we were up in Niagara this past summer. The Darling Munchkin just looks wonderful, but a little washed out:

Now, of course, I think she’s the most beautiful child in the world! However, although the photo captures her enthusiasm and energy, it doesn’t have the proper skin tones or eye color.

I wanted her skin to have a richer tone, and her eyes to be blue! Her hair is also a richer color (especially when wet), and the green leaves behind her were also a bit faded.

So, I tweaked it. Her skin is still a little off, but now you see her more natural coloring, and those lovely blue, blue eyes. I tried the dodge tool on her eyes a bit, but ended up using it only very lightly - anything less delicate made them look “off” somehow...

But look! It’s a much better picture now, even though I doubt it will win any awards.

The book which has been helping me a lot is Adobe Photoshop CS2 one-on-one, by Deke McClelland. It’s in full color, and is very helpful. I really like it because he focuses (OK, I’m only in Lesson 3) on getting you up and using Pshop, instead of telling you all about hue and saturation and adjusting your monitor and all the technical stuff.

I want to be introduced to a program of this complexity in such a way that I feel comfortable using my own photos and trying to tweak them with the information and training I’m given. I want to dive in and get practical knowledge in the real world. Once I get comfortable messing with and understanding the basics, then I can deal with the more technical stuff.

At any rate, if this book continues to work out well, I’m seriously considering going on over to Total Training or checking Amazon, and buying more of their stuff.

Um, what else did I work on? Oh, yeah! I took a photo of an opossum at the Virginia Living Museum several months ago when I chaperoned a third grade field trip, and it needed a little help, too.

The colors and balancing are still a bit off, but you can see that Pshop has sharpened the image, emphasising the shadows and highlights, and deepening the colors.

Again, it’s not a perfect photo after the edits - but it’s a lot more pleasing to my eye, which is what really matters, isn’t it?

At any rate, I’ve been having fun in between cleaning up after Christmas Day and cleaning house, and cleaning clothes, and cleaning floors... Yes, I’ve been doing a lot of cleaning. So, sitting down with my laptop and learning Pshop has been a wonderful break, and - so far - is lots of fun!

Comments

[Always On Watch]

1.

the Christmas series was pretty tough there at the end
But you did such a great job of glorifying our Lord! And each of your postings was a blessing to me. Thank you for all your hard and thorough work.

Such beautiful photoes here. We have a digital camera, but I'm still not comfortable with doing the editing and touching up. I guess that I just need more practice.

Have you seen www.mypublisher.com ? The site enables one to make great photo albums. My neighbor did some up for Christmas, and I was impressed with the final product, a good way to sort and to preserve old and digital photos.

[The Red Queen]

2.

OK,Sis, I am jealous once again. I would love to have Photoshop but.... anyway, it looks like you are on your way even if you didnt get that fancy schmancy camera either. Hope you had an awesome Christmas. I really appreciated your blog work this season. It was so inspirational. Love ya

[David]

3.

heh

Does Photoshop remove holiday poundage?

;-)

[Kilo]

4.

Bert Monroy is the man to learn from. He has a few books out.

[Kilo]

5.

lol,,forgot this
http://www.bertmonroy.com/